Sound-box.



L. P. VALIQUET.

SOUND BOX.

APPLICATION mm MAR. I914- RENEWED Jun: :0. Hill.

1,238,056. Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

. ant: I

the. tone arm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS I. VALIQUET, 0F BOSTON, MASSAQHU SE'IYTS.

SOUNDIBOX.

Patented Aug. 21, 1917.

Application filed-Hatch 7, 1914, Serial No. 823,260. Renewed-Tune 18, 1917. Serial.,No..175, 5Q2.

record, tablets. .The best form of. apparatus embodying my invention atpresent known to me as .illustrated-imthe accompanying Sheet of drawings. in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a-sound box.in operative position ;for .use with a sound record. having a laterally undulat ng groove, with the supporting tone-arm broken away and turned upward to showit unore clearly,

iFig. 2 is a side elevation of the same with turned down in. proper position,

,Fig; 3 is a cross section of the sound box ,taken on line 3--3 of Fig. 2,

Fign l, is a detailed front view of the cup shaped body of the, sound box,

Fig. 5 is a detailed section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 6 is a detail of one of the gaskets.

Throughout the ,qdrawings like reference characters indicate like parts.

1, is the cup shaped body of a common form of sound box having annular.flange 3, and a central tubular extension 2, provided with an outwardly projecting pin 12, adapted to engage slot 11, in tone-arm 10, and form a bayonet joint therewith. The flange 3, has an annular internal shoulder 4, thereon forming a recess deep enough to hold the retaining ring 7, flush with the outer surface of the flange. This ring 7, is preferably stamped out of a fiat sheet of metal and has slots 8, and 9, 9, located closely together and extending part way across it. Some of these slots, as 8, extend from the outer edge of the ring inwardly, and others, as 9, 9, extend from the inner edge of the ring outwardly. The inwardly extending slots overlap the outwardly extending ones, each set preferably extending a short distance beyond the medial line of the ring.

5, is the usual diaphragm held between gaskets 6, .6, and attached tostylus arm 13, by a button of cement 14:, in ,awell known manner. 18, indicates the usual form of .the diaphragm andgaskets areplaced in the cup'shaped recess in memberl, which maybe stamped and drawn out of one piece of, ,metaLandthe retaining ring 7,, is sprung into place. Thisring is.usually.stampe:l out of asheet of metal, andhas an external diameterzslightly in excess of, theinternal diameter of flange 3, but the overlapping .slots .-8,,and 9, give tlie;ri.ng,a slight radial compressibility, so;that,itcan be forced inside of flange 3, .up against shoulder '1. --Whenso, placed its tendency. to expand radially will cause it .to grip flange 3, and hold itfirmlyin position, retaining the diaphragm 5, compressed between gaskets 6, 6. Whenever it is desiredto removethe diaphragm orgaskets the retaining ring 7, can be easily unseatcd by insertinga knife blade or other, thin :flat tool through slot 8, under thering .and prying outwardly. The foregoing parts being assembled in position the stylus arm lug 17, is inserted between lugs 15,:15, all three having had holes of the same size bored in them, and all three thus assembled are reamed out to the proper taper at one operation. The pivot, pin 16, tapered at the same angle, is then forced into place, and the stylus arm 13, is oscillated back and forth, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1, until the working faces of pin 16, and perforation in lug 17, Wear down to a degree which will ive just the proper freedom of motion to t e stylus to permit it to vibrate under the action of the sound record groove without chattering on its pivot. This, as indicated, does not result in loosening the frictional hold of the pin in the parts 15 because that is intentionally greater than the hold of the stylus arm on said pin, as will be apparent from the drawings, especially Fig. 5. This can be readily determined by the workman through his sense of touch after a little practice. The

inner end of the stylus arm is then fastened to the diaphragm 5, by cement button l4, and the sound box is complete.

The advantages of my invention comprise its simplicity, cheapness and ease of manipulation. There are no screws or other parts to work loose and rattle, and all the elements of the combination are held firmly together by friction of the closely fitted parts to form a resonant structure giving an excellent tone reproduction.

The slots 8, and 9, in the retaining ring 7, may be varied in number and location, Within limits, according to the desired degree of elasticity to be given to said ring, and details of the construction might be modified without departing from the prin('i ple of my invention. Sound boxes designed to cooperate with record tablets having Vertically undulating grooves may also be constructed according to my invention.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A sound box having a retaining ring formed of an annular flat metal sheet having two or more slots out part way across it and located closely together, some extending inwardly from the outer circumference of the ring and others outwardly from the inner circumference, so as to overlap one another.

2.-A flat, sheet metal diaphragm-retaining ring for a sound box having slots cut therein to give it a slight elasticity in radial directions, some of said slots extending from the outer circun'iference of the ring toward the center and others extending from the inner circumference outwardly, the slots of one set overlapping those of the other.

3. In combination with a sound-box, a supporting part on the sound-box having two spaced side-portions, a stylus arm having a portion located between said side-portions, the side-portions and the stylus arm having a taper hole therein, and a taper pin upon which the stylus arm is adapted to vibrate, said pin being forced into the hole in the side-portions and the stylus arm, and having a greater frictional hold in the sideportions than in the stylus arm.

4. In combination with a sound-box, a supporting part on the sound-box; a stylus arm; said supporting part and said stylus arm having registering openings formed transversely therethrough; and a taper pin, upon which the stylus arm is adapted to vibrate, forced small end first successively through the holes in said stylus arm and supporting part, so as to frictionally hold the former snugly against the latter to prerent it from rattling; said pin having a greater frictional hold in said supporting part than in said stylus arm.

5. In combination with a sound-box, a supporting part on the sound-box; a stylus arm having a transverse hole therethrough; said supporting part being provided with a tapered transverse hole which registers with the first-named hole and has an appreciably greater length than that hole; and a taper pin, upon which the stylus arm is adapted to vibrate, forced through said holes so as to frictionally hold the stylus arm snugly against the supporting part to prevent it from rattling; said pin having a greater frictional hold in said supporting part than in said stylus arm.

(3. A sound-box provided with a flat, sheet metal diaphragm-retaining ring which is slit radially part way across so as to give it a slight radial compressibility.

LOUIS P. VALIQUET.

Witnesses:

A. PARKER-SMITH, M. G. CRAWFORD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

